Weekend Recipe: Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies for Mother’s Day

This healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe is super easy to make. My secret is to use good-quality dark eating chocolate. The 70 – 80% cocoa type such as Lindt, which is not too sweet. Using quality ingredients will create the most delicious cookie, and will be perfect with your next pot of tea or to dunk into a glass of icy cold almond milk.

You don’t need any special equipment to make this recipe, just a bowl for mixing the ingredients with your hands. I always double or triple the recipe because they don’t last long in my home.

This recipe is from my cookbook Purely Delicious.

WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT THEM

The ground almonds in this recipe make a wonderful replacement for the traditional white refined flours that you’ll find in most store bought cookies. Almonds are a good source of protein and are packed with vitamin E.

INGREDIENTS

300 g (3 cups / 10 1/2 oz) almond meal / ground almonds

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or cold pressed macadamia nut oil

4 tablespoons raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract

100g (3 1/2 oz) good quality dark eating chocolate (I used 1 block of 70% Lindt chocolate and a little water for mixing)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 140 C (280 F)

Combine almond meal, oil, honey and vanilla bean into a mixing bowl

Mix with your hands and form into a soft dough

Add a splash of water 1 – 2 teaspoons to help form dough, otherwise it will start to crumble

Chop chocolate with a knife into small chips

Add chocolate into the cookie dough mix and combine with your hands so that it’s distributed evenly

Using a small ice cream scoop or spoon, form dough into 20 cookies and place evenly onto a prepared baking tray

Press the top of the cookie gently to flatten slightly. I also like to garnish with a little flaked almond before baking for decoration, but this is optional

Bake in a low oven for 30 minutes until golden

Cool completely before devouring

NOTES + INSPIRATION: You can add 2 tablespoons of cacao to the mixture for a yummy double chocolate chip cookie. You can also add the zest of an orange to give it a glorious jaffa flavor.

Teresa Cutter, founder of The Healthy Chef, is an author, nutritionist and classically trained chef. You can find more of Cutter’s tips and recipes on her website, app, eBooks and Instagram.

“My main goal at The Healthy Chef is to get people cooking and eating healthier. Eat natural foods, focus on fresh fruits and vegetables and just keep it simple.” — Teresa Cutter